National Art School

The National Art School has been at the centre of Sydney's art scene for almost a century, and has nurtured the talents of generations of artists who have studied and worked in studios within the walls of the old Darlinghurst Gaol.

Educational institution

East Sydney Technical College

Student

Hetherington, Norman (Heth)

Puppeteer, artist, teacher and cartoonist who began experimenting with marionettes with Clovelly Puppet Theatre in 1952. He went on to present puppets on television from 1956. He is best known as the creator of the marionette 'Mr Squiggle', who drew with his nose and appeared regularly on ABC children's television from 1959-1999, Australia's longest running children's television series. Hetherington was the sole operator and voice of Mr. Squiggle.

Cell Block Theatre

Darlinghurst Gaol

Sydney's main gaol from its opening in 1841, later used as an internment camp, technical college and art school.

National Art School

The National Art School has been at the centre of Sydney's art scene for almost a century, and has nurtured the talents of generations of artists who have studied and worked in studios within the walls of the old Darlinghurst Gaol.

Beck, Deborah

Deborah Beck is an artist and writer who has taught in art schools in Sydney for over 20 years. Her book Hope in Hell: A History of Darlinghurst Gaol and the National Art School was published in 2005

Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts

The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts sponsored a writer and researcher at the Dictionary of Sydney for three years - Catherine Freyne in 2009-10 and Mark Dunn in 2010-12.

NAS Drawing Studio 2008

Experimental Drawing students 2009

Darlinghurst Gaol

Planned from the 1820s, Darlinghurst Gaol was built in stages to designs that shifted with penal theories and government budgets. From 1841 prisoners were kept there, in increasingly overcrowded and unpleasant conditions. After Long Bay prison was opened in 1914 the buildings were used for a range of other purposes.

Sydney Technical College

From its beginnings as an adjunct to the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, Sydney Technical College provided the technical skills needed for Sydney's industrial development, as well as accessible and affordable higher and further education for Sydney's working people.

Darlinghurst

Used by its traditional owners, the Gadigal people, well into the 1840s, Darlinghurst was a quarry and windmill site before it became popular for the fine villas of the colony's well-to-do, in the 1830s. Subsequent booms and busts raised and lowered the suburb's fortunes, creating the mix of poor and posh, criminal and respectable that have made Darlinghurst one of Sydney's most interesting localities.

Prisons to 1920

Even a penal colony needs prisons. As early as 1796 gaols were built to hold criminals who had committed offences in the colony, and to hold the public floggings and executions that were thought to deter such crimes. Through the nineteenth century, attitudes changed, and prisoners were expected to reform and repent, although treatment got little kinder in the new buildings and systems that were devised.

Scandalous nights - Sydney's artists' balls

Artists' balls have had a long tradition in Sydney; the first one was held as early as 1881 in the Garden Palace at the Royal Botanic Gardens after the International Exhibition. Taking their cue from their outrageous counterparts in Europe, the balls were attended by thousands of party-goers, raising money for charities and scholarships for young artists along with the ire of Sydney authorities. One in particular was the infamous 1924 ball at Sydney Town Hall, described by the 'Queen of Bohemia', Dulcie Deamer, as a 'Night of Great Scandal'